I’m about to leave for tour with my band . However, I thought I’d share my newest idea for boosting traffic on videos and increasing engagement with fans. Specifically, I’m talking about the videos that our band creates while we’re on tour. In the past, we’ve had a partner sponsor our tour video blogs: we would do shout-out’s, promote their brand, they would get a link with every video, etc. This tour, we’re trying something different.

On this upcoming tour, our band is going to sponsor a different non-profit organization, charity, or Kickstarter project with every video. Here’s a step-by-step to what we’re doing:

In every video blog, we are going to select a project to support. During our tour, we are going to pledge 5 cents for every view. For every thumbs up, we’ll pledge ten cents. We’ll encourage fans as well as the recipients of the donation to share the video with as many people as they’d like.

With each video, we’ll also take a quick moment to talk about what we’re supporting and why we believe in it.

Each episode, we’ll invite viewers to submit their own favorite non-profits, Kickstarter projects, etc. in the comments section. The causes in comments that get voted up will be more likely to get selected.

At the end of the tour, we’ll film the checks being made and mailed (or online donations being made).

Not only will this give us a chance to highlight some of the causes that we are passionate about, but it will allow fans to participate in the action as well. Non-profit organizations and volunteers can also be a part of the process (and if we’re on tour near their offices, we’ll film quick interview with them) since it is a free fundraiser for their groups. It’s just a fun way to expose the music to more fans while helping your community out.

Remember, get creative. If you can’t pledge 5 cents, pledge 2 cents (could even do a “put your two cents in” type of campaign). If you can afford more, do more. If you want to put a cap on it because you’re afraid you’ll go broke, do so. If this isn’t a good fit, then don’t do it.

Do things that build relationships with your fans, are a good fit for your music/brand, and hits the right audience. Those are the ideas that win.

Simon Tam is owner of Last Stop Booking and author of How to Get Sponsorships and Endorsements. Simon’s writing on music and marketing can be found at www.laststopbooking.com. He is on Twitter @SimonTheTam

Reader Comments (5)

Personally I couldn't do a campaign like this as I feel like it's hiding charity behind likes and views. It seems to me if you have a charity you are passionate about you should tell the story of the charity on it's merits. But then is it different than giving a portion of the door from a live event? I don't know.

It's important you are telling the correct story to your viewers. Shaw Communications did a similar campaign but they asked everyone to "Help us get to 250,000 views' rather than "Share this video to spread the word about {the problem charity is trying to solve}" - http://youtu.be/_hkKndoXJdc?t=45s

I hope you have a successful tour and I hope you raise a good amount of money.

As you are writing your checks/making online donations in step 4, are you going to give a shout-out to all the people who donated? That way the people who donated have a second reason to share the video. It also gives you a chance to make filming signing a check (or whatever) exciting and engaging.

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I hope that works. I agree w Tucker. People nowadays are more skeptic when it comes to brands (even artists) when u promote something for charity or mother nature. If it's 70% beneficial for your band and just 30% charity, i say just tell them to support your band.support art, etc. But maybe it will work. Please do a follow-up post. It will help everybody.=)

I understand the skepticism that some might have but if your act is genuine about supporting the causes, these organizations won't have a problem helping you get the word out (your fans will know it and love it as well). I managed a multiple non-profit organizations for multiple years, including the American Cancer Society, and I can tell you that we always appreciated ideas that were fresh, creative, and didn't cost the organization money. If it helped get the word about the mission and services, even better!

It all just depends on how you approach it. If you are simply doing it to "use" the charity's profile, people see right through that. If you have a story to tell, such as a direct tie with the cause, and you express that, people are much more open/receptive...and enthusiastic about it.